These enemies are largely stationary, floating in space near foreground obstacles, typically encircling the object. They will not move at all until the player gets close, at which point they activate and home in on the player in a slow push. Letting the Spinemine get too close causes it to self-destruct, dealing a large amount of damage to the player (or their mech). They will stop following once the player is outside their activation radius, which can be exploited to pick them off one at a time or damage other enemies with their explosion.

As it is only player proximity that will make them move, they can be pelted with ranged attacks and will not react at all. Thankfully, most ranged attacks have a far greater reach than the Spinemine's activation range. Spinemines explode once their health is depleted, doing massive -and typically lethal- damage to any creatures too close. Clusters of Spinemines close together can be taken out by popping a single one.